Paper and card marking instruments, if writing pens and pencils are counted, have been devised and utilized from biblical times onward. Over the past century, commonly used quill pens were replaced by various types of fountain pens and ball point pens. In addition, lead pencils were developed and have been utilized since they were developed in the 1800's.
While such pens and pencils have been useful for writing and various types of marking purposes, because they are pointed, where one must mark an area with a geometric shape such as a circle, square, rectangle, or triangle, it is necessary for the user to scratch up and down, cross-ways or circularly in order to fill in an area on a card or paper which may require such a geometric marking. This may not only require some effort but, if the pen point is sharp, it could result in damaging the surface of the card or paper through scratching.
While for many years such inconvenience and possible damage to a card or paper was probably an insignificant problem, with computer readings of questionnaires, surveys, and lottery cards, the inconvenience of having to fill in even small geometric areas, on a card or paper, and the possibility of the areas being scratched by a sharp pen or pencil have become of great concern to many persons, particularly in view of the relatively recent popularity of various types of lotteries.
While various types of stamping markers have been devised, such as those illustrated and described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,045,593, 3,051,956, 4,452,142 and 4,649,820, such markers have been in the form of vertical elements which must be carefully aligned and then pressed down onto the area to be marked. It is usually difficult however, when looking down onto the card or paper to be marked to properly align the vertical marking pads exactly with the space to be marked--particularly where the spaces are small and disposed together. In addition, such prior art markers, because of their mechanisms, have been expensive.